Game Preview: Stockton Thunder at Alaska Aces

Published on January 12, 2012 under ECHL (ECHL)
Stockton Thunder News Release


GAME PREVIEW: STOCKTON THUNDER at ALASKA ACES

DATE: Thursday, January 12, 2012

TIME: 8:15 p.m.

SITE: Sullivan Arena

RADIO: 1280 AM KWSX (joined in progress)/StocktonThunder.com (AmericaOne)

NHL AFFILIATES

Stockton Thunder: Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks

Alaska Aces: St. Louis Blues

NEXT HOME GAME

Friday, Jan. 20, vs. Las Vegas, 7:30 p.m.

OLIVIER ROY BOBBLEHEAD GIVEAWAY (presented by MetroPCS and 97.7/98.3 KWIN)

TONIGHT'S MATCHUP

The Thunder makes its only trip to Anchorage this season and visits the defending Kelly Cup champion Alaska Aces for three games in three days beginning tonight. The Thunder is 21-21-14 all time against the Aces and tonight's game marks the second game of ten this season between both teams. Alaska defeated the Thunder 4-1 the last time the teams met on Nov. 23 at Stockton Arena. The Thunder enters the week with a season high three game win streak and is 3-0-1 in the last four games. The game will feature two of the league's top three goal scorers in the last five years - Kevin Baker (Stockton) and Wes Goldie (Alaska).

SEASON SERIES (Thunder: 0-1-0)

Wed. Nov. 23 Alaska 4 at Stockton 1

Thur. Jan. 12 at Alaska 8:15 p.m.

Fri. Jan. 13 at Alaska 8:15 p.m.

Sat. Jan. 14 at Alaska 8:15 p.m.

Fri. Jan. 27 Alaska 7:30 p.m.

Sat. Jan. 28 Alaska 7:30 p.m.

Sun. Jan. 29 Alaska 4:00 p.m.

Fri. Mar. 2 Alaska 7:30 p.m.

Sat. Mar.3 Alaska 7:30 p.m.

Sun. Mar. 4 Alaska 4:00 p.m.

UPCOMING MILESTONES

- Matt Thomas is 14 wins away from 300 in his professional coaching career

- Kevin Baker is 23 goals away from 200 in his professional career

- Matt Foy is 18 points away from 200 in his professional career

LAST THREE GAMES:

STK 3 - BAK 2 (SO) (1/7/12): Goaltender Olivier Roy made 35 saves and stopped all four shootout attempts to lift the Stockton Thunder (15-13-4, 34 points) to a come from behind 3-2 shootout victory over the Bakersfield Condors before 4,830 fans at Rabobank Arena on Saturday. The Thunder, who went 2-for-6 on the power play, earned its first three game winning streak of the season, paced offensively by goals from Nathan Deck and Jordan Fulton.

STK 1 - BAK 0 (1/6/12): Goaltender Olivier Roy made 29 saves for his third shutout of the season and Jordan Fulton scored the only goal of the game in the first period, helping boost the Stockton Thunder (14-13-4, 32 points) to a 1-0 victory over the host Bakersfield Condors at Rabobank Arena on Friday. The Thunder, who improved to 4-2-0 this season against the Condors, moved to a point behind fifth place in the Western Conference, shared by Utah and Idaho.

STK 4 - ONT 3 (SO) (12/31/11): Goaltender Olivier Roy made 26 saves and stopped all five shootout attempts to help lift the Stockton Thunder (13-13-4, 30 points) to a 4-3 shootout victory over the Ontario Reign before a crowd of 6,044 on Saturday night at Stockton Arena. The Thunder, who hosted a special New Year's Eve event to close out the calendar year, was aided offensively with two goals by Kevin Baker and Milan Kytnar's third period goal. Roy, who earned his first career win at Stockton Arena, stopped Kevin Estrada with a blocker save in the fifth round. The Thunder snapped a six game winless skid (0-5-1) and finished the 2011 year with a combined record of 38-26-10.

EIGHT IS GREAT

Milan Kytnar became the eighth player to make his NHL debut after skating for the Stockton Thunder, at Rexall Place in Edmonton last night, suiting up for the Oilers against New Jersey. Kytnar had a shot on goal and two takeaways and is the second player in Thunder history to play in the ECHL and NHL during the same season (Bryan Young, 2006-07). Kytnar has been reassigned to the Oklahoma City Barons of the American Hockey League.

NOTE OF THE NIGHT

Dating back to 2007-08, the Thunder is 9-7-3 at Sullivan Arena and won in its last visit, coming last season on Feb. 13 in a 3-2 victory. During a three season stretch from 2007-10, the Thunder boasted a record of 8-2-3 on the Aces' home ice. By splitting two games at Alaska during the 2009-10 postseason, the Thunder eventually became the only team in ECHL history to eliminate Alaska from the first round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs (won 3-1 in best-of-five series).

GOAL ORIENTED

Thunder right winger Kevin Baker was signed as a free agent on Aug. 24 and brings a wealth of offensive accomplishments to the Thunder roster. He was named ECHL Most Valuable Player in 2008-09 and his 57 goals that season were most in the league since 2000-01. He ranks third in ECHL all-time goal scoring (since 2006-07) with 165 goals. On Dec. 10 vs. Bakersfield, he collected his first hat trick of the season.

MOST GOALS, ECHL (SINCE 2006-07)

Rank Player Team GP PTS G A +/-

1 Wes Goldie AK 438 430 258 172 6

2 Mark Derlago IDH 281 340 174 166 41

3 Kevin Baker STK 298 332 165 167 14

4 Ryan Kinasewich UTA 205 292 131 161 -4

5 Marty Flichel IDH 382 358 131 227 -8

** Statistics include regular season and playoffs

YOUR HONOR

Olivier Roy earned his second ECHL Goaltender of the Week award on Tuesday and became the 10th player in Thunder history to claim the weekly honor. He was 2-0-0 with a shutout, a goals against average of 0.96 and a save percentage of .970 in two victories at Pacific Division rival Bakersfield last week. Roy turned aside all 29 shots he faced in a 1-0 win at Bakersfield last Friday, tying the Thunder single-season record with his third shutout of the season.

THUNDER ALL-TIME ECHL GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK SELECTIONS

Date Awarded

1. Jake Moreland January 31, 2006

2. Andrew Perugini March 3, 2009

3. Bryan Pitton December 29, 2009

4. Bryan Pitton February 2, 2010

5. Andrew Perugini February 16, 2010

6. Tyson Sexsmith October 26, 2010

7. Bryan Pitton November 9, 2010

8. Tyson Sexsmith March 22, 2011

9. Olivier Roy November 22, 2011

10. Olivier Roy January 10, 2012

FOY STORY

Thunder forward Matt Foy is tied for the Thunder lead in scoring with 25 points (9g-16a) and paces the team with 16 assists. The 6-foot-3 and 225 pound right winger has scored 14 points (4g-9a) in his last 13 games and recently posted his eighth multi point game of the season on Jan. 7 at Bakersfield with two assists. Foy has 56 games of playing experience in the NHL with the Minnesota Wild and skated in 28 games with the Wild in 2007-08, scoring eight points (4g-4a) and totaling 28 penalty minutes.

HUNTING DOWN A MILESTONE

Thunder left winger Garet Hunt has surpassed Mark Adamek as the club's career leader in games played. Hunt is in his fourth season as a member of the Thunder and last season, was named the team's "Unsung Hero" and "Fan Favorite." This season, he was named alternate captain on Oct. 13. He played in his 200th career game with the Thunder on Dec. 16 vs. Idaho.

ALL-TIME THUNDER GAMES PLAYED

Player GP

1. Garet Hunt 204

2. Mark Adamek 186

3. Adam Huxley 183

4. Mike Lalonde 182

5. Daryl Marcoux 166

THUNDER CROWDS ROLL IN

An exclusive club, the Thunder averaged over 6,000 fans per game and drew over 200,000 fans for the sixth straight year in 2010-11, ranking second in ECHL in attendance with 6,382 fans per game. A whopping crowd of 9,482 piled into Stockton Arena on Jan. 22 for the "Teddy Bear Toss" game, the largest crowd at Stockton Arena for the season and the fourth crowd over 9,000 in the event's history. Stockton has 17 sellouts in the team's franchise history. They welcomed 12 crowds of 7,000 or more at Stockton Arena last season and had its highest attendance since 2007-08, a six percent increase from 2009-10.

The Thunder leads the ECHL in attendance this season with an average of 5,766 fans per game.

HATS OFF TO YOU

Kevin Baker's hat trick vs. Bakersfield on Dec. 10 was the 15th in Thunder history and the first in the 2011-12 season. Below is a complete list of hat tricks scored in Thunder history:

THUNDER ALL-TIME HAT TRICKS

YEAR PLAYER DATE/OPPONENT

2005-06 1. Lance Monych 3/11/06 at Bakersfield

2006-07 1. Tim Verbeek 1/13/07 vs. Bakersfield

2007-08 1. Ryan MacMurchy 1/6/08 vs. Bakersfield

2008-09 1. Cory Urquhart 1/8/09 at Phoenix

2009-10 1. Chris D'Alvise 11/1/10 at Victoria

2. James Bates 1/16/10 vs. Utah

3. Igor Gongalsky 1/29/10 vs. Victoria

4. Chris D'Alvise ** 2/5/10 at Ontario

5. Matt Robinson 3/28/10 vs. Las Vegas

2010-11 1. Chris D'Alvise 11/6/10 vs. Bakersfield

2. Chris D'Alvise 11/13/10 at Idaho

3. Jarrett Konkle ** 1/12/11 vs. Bakersfield

4. Chris Lawrence 2/19/11 vs. Victoria

5. Jordan Foreman 3/27/11 vs. Victoria

2011-12 1. Kevin Baker 12/10/11 vs. Bakersfield

** Denotes natural hat trick

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